Getty (2)
‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Star Ellen Pompeo Dishes on ‘Nightmare’ Sex Scene With T.R. Knight
Ellen Pompeo opened up about the good, the bad and the ugly parts of working on Grey’s Anatomy, including an “awkward” sex scene with former costar T.R. Knight.
The TV icon, 55, reflected on filming the uncomfortable scene during the Wednesday, March 19, episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast and revealed that her character, Meredith Grey, and T.R.’s character, George O’Malley, “had to do a love scene and [they] were both crying. [They] cried.”
“The scene was so uncomfortable and awkward and he didn’t wanna do that,” Ellen told host Alex Cooper of the Grey’s Anatomy season 2 scene. “I didn’t wanna do it. And when we filmed it, it was so bad.”
To make matters worse, ABC wasn’t pleased with the outcome of the intimate moment and didn’t like that there was “too much thrusting” between the on camera lovers.
“In your worst nightmare to have to do it one time, we had to re-shoot that s–t. We had to re-shoot it and do it twice,” Ellen continued. “I’ve never seen it, but I don’t know how it was shot or covered or what the end, how it was edited, but I’m full on in tears, the whole entire scene. And those are real tears.”
Fans met Ellen and T.R., 51, when Grey’s Anatomy debuted in 2005 alongside other onscreen surgical interns, Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), Izzie Stevens (Katherine Heigl) and Alex Karev (Justin Chambers). T.R.’s character, O’Malley, was in love with Meredith during season 1 and 2, but she was in a complicated romance with Dr. Derek Shepherd (a.k.a. McDreamy), portrayed by Patrick Dempsey.
During season 2, Meredith had an off period with Dr. Shepherd, which led her to turn her friendly relationship with O’Malley for a night, which was out of character for her.
That said, Ellen and T.R. weren’t the only ones who disliked the scene. In fact, the moment became one of the show’s most cringeworthy moments because fans felt like O’Malley took advantage of his friend’s drunk and heartbroken vulnerability.
“George was such a dirtbag for this, she was clearly sad, drunk and unresponsive. He had to know Mer had no feelings for him,” a fan wrote on a Reddit thread. “She never really paid any attention to anything he would say and never once gave him the impression that she thought of him as anything but ‘one of the girls.’”
Ellen’s “Call Her Daddy” interview wasn’t the first time she spoke on the scene. In fact, she and showrunner Krista Vernoff, Chanda Wilson and Debbie Allen explained why the scene was written for season 2, even though they knew fans wouldn’t necessarily love it.
“In the early years of this show, we never had a single conversation that I can remember about changing the face of television. It was always about what’s going to make the best story, what’s going to be the funniest, the most dramatic,” Krista, 53, said during Variety’s Power of Women panel in October 2020. “We had huge fights like George and Meredith are going to sleep together and then she’s going to start to cry. And I was like, ‘No! Everybody will hate us!’”
Krista continued, “We fought it out, and it was noise. She was like, ‘They don’t have to love it. They just have to watch it and talk about it. It’s not always about being likable, it’s about being entertaining.’”
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Life & Style does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.